This is very disturbing news, especially if you are one of the 7.2%. It makes me wonder how many people see this as an opportunity vs. a curse.
I remember a lady who I worked with at my last job. She had been with the company for 18 years and was very entrenched. She was also clearly bored, using her longevity as an excuse to slack off of her work, and generally stonewalling any progress the company wanted to make that involved the processes she oversaw. I sat right next to her and could see her dissatisfaction hanging over her desk like a cloud; it made me feel awful. One day the boss warned me this was it - she was getting fired. He warned all of us in the office, in fact, because he was afraid of her reaction and wanted us to be on guard for anything she might do. She took the news badly and made a visible exit from the building - not an easy day for anybody: her, her boss, and those of us left behind.
I have often thought of this lady and how she handled her job loss. Did she go home and sit on the coach and feel sorry for herself for an extended period of time? Blame the company for letting her go? Watch a lot of crummy TV? Or did she use this as an opportunity to feel bad for a bit, but then regroup, take whatever lesson was available to her, and move on to something better, something more suited to her skills, passion and dreams? I hope for the latter.
If you get caught in this 7.2% go ahead and take some time to feel lousy, then regroup. Being out of work may be the best thing that ever happened to you. After all, it was the threat of being fired that caused me to finally start my own business… but that’s a story for another time.
Kris shared one of Nick Askew’s short films recently and I want to share another with you today, as I think it calls us in a simple yet profound way to fundamentally examine our intentions, always a good thing to do, but particularly so this time of year. Viewing time is less than 2 minutes.
Will you take the time to look? If not, what’s stopping you?
I was reading this blog post by Daniel Pink - the jist is that we feel better when our circumstances match those around us. For example, if you’re laid off, you feel better if those around you are laid off, too. As magnanimous as it may seem to wish another well, the truth is more that we want to be on top.I wonder how much this contributes to the culture in some workplaces of “well, it’s lousy but at least we’re all in it together”.
I’ve worked places were the overriding morale was negative and depressing, yet people stayed, as if afraid to change the status quo. Ironic that the status quo was so unfulfilling…
This is from Nic Askew, of Soul Biographies. After reading it, I wondered if you would consider letting your light shine from the inside, allowing us on the outside to see it. What might that do to your work, your attitude, your overall approach to life? How might this affect your coming New Year? How could being brave shift your livelihood?
Enjoy.
perpetual summertime
A man lived perpetually in the summer time of his own life. He lit up the world that surrounded him. Unannounced. And unintentional.
Some who met him would wonder where the light came from.
And of those who wondered, some would realise that it had nothing to do with the outward circumstances of his life.
And of those who realised, some would recognise that the very same light waited for the chance to shine from deep inside themselves.
And for the brave who’d let it shine. It would.
… perhaps true bravery has the most subtle of meanings. And such bravery is in the reach of all. In the blink of an eye.Shine on : )
Here is a corporate America story worth its weight in cookies. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and happy holidays to all!
ASHLAND, Ohio (CNN) — An Ohio bakery shut down in October is bustling again, with 60 eager employees who had expected a Christmas on the unemployment rolls. Some 300 workers lost their jobs when the Archway cookie factory in Ashland, Ohio, was suddenly closed by the private equity firm that owned it. The workers also were left without benefits like health insurance.
But then Lance Inc., a Charlotte, North Carolina-based snack food company, purchased Archway at a bankruptcy auction. And last week 60 workers were asked to return immediately, with perhaps more coming back in the months ahead.
Kathy Sexton, a worker at the bakery, had been preparing her children for a very modest holiday. “They said they understood,” Sexton recalls. “They said, ‘That’s all right, Mom.’ You always want to give them more, but … I didn’t think I would be able to.”
Now she can.
Tiny Ashland has been struggling. Ohio has lost 200,000 jobs over the past eight years.
The outlook in Ashland became especially bleak when the Archway plant closed. Workers at the bakery said they felt betrayed when Archway at first said there would be more work in a day or two, but then changed the locks.
Things are different now.
When it promised to reopen the bakery, Lance gave all 300 former Archway workers a $1,500 prepaid debit card.
“I was crying,” Rita Devan says of the gift. “I am like, ‘What are these people doing? They don’t know me. They don’t know us. They don’t know any of the Archway people. And they are giving each and every one of us $1,500.’ ”
Sexton — the woman who’d been preparing her kids for a meager holiday — says of the $1,500 gift: “It was awesome. My first thought was, ‘I can give my kids a Christmas.’ ”
David Singer, CEO of Lance, says the gift cards were a way of letting Ashland know the new owners are different. “We wouldn’t do it willy-nilly,” Singer says. “We do want to make money. But this is the pool of folks that we intend to hire. We just wanted to let them know who we were.”
The 60 workers rehired so far are earning their previous salary and retained their seniority. They also were provided health insurance from day one.
The bakery now produces Lance cookies that are sold to big chains like Target and Wal-Mart. But production of Archway cookies is scheduled to resume soon. Lance has told the employees that it hopes to have the plant fully operational by the end of 2009 — that is, five lines of cookies being produced simultaneously.
The new owners say that if new orders keep flowing in, more jobs will follow.
Terry Mowry is another worker rehired by Lance. He says what has happened is hard to describe: “You just saw life being breathed right back into the face of these people.”
And Devan says with a laugh: “I walked into the garage last night, and my husband says, ‘You actually smell like a cookie again.’ ”
I’m thinking about my trip to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art recently. They have a special tour they put on once a month for members where they spotlight some aspect of the museum; this particular month it was a 45 minute tour of 3 pieces in the permanent collection. These are pieces we have seem many times - the twist was we saw them set to music. Our docent had paired 3 pieces of art with 3 separate pieces of music and it was amazing! The paintings and music on their own would have been enough, but the combination of the two created a new third entity. I saw the art differently; it came to life, offered new perspectives, and pulled me in on a deeper level.
I wonder how many things you see on a daily basis that you don’t really see anymore. Perhaps you can add some music and see your work from a new perspective this week. How does that affect how you show up in the workplace, how you see the work you do, your perception of your co- workers and boss?
There is a parable told about a young Cherokee who is brought before the tribal elders, who are concerned about his aggressive tendencies. One of the elders takes the young man aside and tells him that his anger is understandable, since all humans have within them two wolves. One wolf is good and peaceable, and the other is evil and angry. The two wolves are in constant battle with one another, since neither is powerful enough to destroy the other. The young man asks the elder “But if they are of equal power, which
wolf will win?” And the elder replies, “The one you feed.”
For those of us who may be feeling Lost in Corporate America, it is sometimes easy to fall into a trap. The trap is one of evidence and expectations. If, for example, you have a story playing in your head about your current situation and part of that story is that you cannot do a darn thing to create positive change, I invite you to consider what the parable may have to offer you.
Are you so convinced of your “rightness” that you look for evidence that proves you are correct, while ignoring any evidence that might question your assumptions?
Choose the wolf you will feed; i.e., the “story” (which is just a version of the facts) that ultimately will serve you best—and then begin paying attention to evidence that supports this conclusion. Where can you begin to make positive changes today?
One of the time mastery experts from whom we heard during our recent Time Experts Telesummit talked about the way we are conditioned to react to stimuli. He asked listeners to reflect on how they react to things such as a newly arrived email, a ringing phone, a doorbell, a fire alarm. And I noticed that all of those things have the power to elicit a response that has me immediately leaping to action (although I’m pretty sure that in the case of a fire alarm, that particular response is likely the preferred one).
Beyond the obvious time management implications, it also got me thinking about other ways in which we might unconsciously be called to action before we are ready to act. And I think this is often true for those of us who feel Lost in Corporate America. The issue becomes, “What if I really did know what I wanted to do instead of what I’m doing now? What then?” It has the possibility of setting us up for a heaping helping of dissonance once we are even more keenly aware of the gap between where we are and where we would prefer to be. But as long as where we want to be remains shrouded in a mysterious mist, we are sort of off the proverbial hook. I mean, why take action if I can’t really answer the question, towards what?
And yet I invite you to consider the possibility of spending some time and effort focused on what you really want work-wise, without making up that you then must immediately get into action. It’s the action part that can often seem scary. So give yourself permission to just be with the question: what elements need to be present in my work so that I feel a sense of fulfillment and purpose? And then just notice what you notice.
You can always get into action. For now, just be with the question. It’s enough.
I had the privilege of spending some time with the folks at GraceWorks yesterday.As described on their website, GraceWorks was established by Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in partnership with secular resources, and exists to provide job search and career transition support for unemployed and underemployed professionals of the San Francisco Bay Area. GraceWorks provides spiritual, technical, and operational resources.In my visit to their weekly meeting, I found all 3 of those present.(You can find their website here.)
Around 45 or so of us talked together about some of the key qualities that they want to be part of their work experience.It includes things like a collaborative environment, supportive boss, ethical standards, clear mission, alignment with values, use of strengths, flexible scheduling, and more.
Some in the group are looking for organizational work as employees, while others are transitioning to being free agents (check out Daniel Pink and his book “Free Agent Nation” here).As I thought about many of the items on the list above, I was struck by the potential that free agency has to provide them.
And what I celebrate most about this group is their willingness to engage with the deeper question of who they are at their core and what is most important to them, and to then let those answers inform the type of work that they seek.They know that alignment between work and self can be a critical factor in how they show up both at work and in the world in general.
If you were to create a list of the qualities that you want to be part of your work experience, what would be there?And once you have your list, what are you willing to do about it?
I can hear you out there. “Thanksgiving week—and here’s another story about gratitude [yawn].” Yet given the research that has shown the very real psycho- and biological benefits of reflecting on that for which one is grateful, you might be—dare I say it?—grateful for this opportunity!
When we are feeling Lost in Corporate America (i.e., dissatisfied with the work that we are doing with little expectation that things will improve), we actually have available a tool that we can employ every day, multiple times a day, that is virtually guaranteed to have us feeling better. And no, it’s not vodka.
What it is is gratitude.
In 2003, psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough conducted the Research Project on Gratitude and Thanksgiving. What they learned is that gratitude is good for you. In an experimental comparison, several hundred people in three different groups were required to keep daily diaries. The first group kept a diary of the events that occurred during the day, while the second group recorded only their unpleasant experiences. The last group made a daily list of things for which they were grateful.
The results of the study indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, was more likely to help others, exercised more regularly and made more progress toward personal goals. You can read more about the healthful effects of gratitude here.
So please take time this week to reflect on what you are grateful for. If it in fact includes your job, wonderful. If not, that’s fine too. Notice the effect that being consciously grateful has on your body and state of mind. Know that establishing a gratitude practice is a relatively simple way of experiencing this on a regular basis. And imagine what might be possible if you in fact did experience this feeling consistently! What actions might you be more willing to take towards defining and then finding or creating your unique version of meaningful work?
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In reading the headlines from the New York Times today I saw this: Jobless Rate Hits 7.2%, a 16-Year High
